A High and Lonely Place

2nd Edition

In the nine years since it was first published, A High and Lonely Place has become a classic of Scottish nature writing and of the literature of our mountains. It has also become a much-quoted source of inspiration to those who champion the cause of our wild places in general and the Cairngorms in particular. Jim Crumley marries a poet's instincts to an uncompromising passion for the Cairngorm's arctic character, and for those wildlife tribes which thrive there.

This is the work of a man who has known and loved and grown intimate with the Cairngorms over more than thirty years. Crumley marks nature's rhythms with thoughtful and often delightful observations of bird and beast, flower and landscape. In the process he strives for a purer empathy with the wilds, seeks out the nourishing bond of man and landscape. But ultimately, the book asserts that the Cairngorms are nature's place. Crumley proposes a radical solution to safeguard the mountains from a threatening array of forces ranged against them, and in a memorable conclusion, invokes what Seton Gordon called 'the spirit of the high and lonely places'.

'This is an excellent book and well worth buying and keeping by your bedside. It is written by a thoughtful, sensitive man who, nevertheless, has his feet on the ground, the ground in this case being the Cairngorms. He evokes their beauty at all seasons of the year and at all times of day and night.'Scottish Mountaineering Club Journal
'... exquisitely crafted writing...' '... the words still leap from the pages with all the grace and vigour of the eagles he decribes, and the message strikes home with all the forcefulness of their talons'. 'In his writing, however, we have a treasure: a skilfully crafted and worthy reminder of a beautiful world well within our reach ...' The Herald

'This book should be on every backpacker's bookshelf. ... the words will hold you and you will not want to put the book down.' Backpack